


Press Your Space Face Close To Mine, Love

by Vulcanodon



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Force-Sensitive Finn (Star Wars), Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mission Fic, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Snowball Fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22516141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vulcanodon/pseuds/Vulcanodon
Summary: "I can’t believe we beat Palpatine only to freeze to death in a snowy ditch."Finn, Rey and Poe travel to an ice planet for a much needed holiday, with the excuse of finding some ancient Jedi ruins. It doesn't take very long for everything to go horribly, drastically wrong.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 34
Kudos: 202





	Press Your Space Face Close To Mine, Love

  
“This will be simple, I promise,” Rey had told him back at the base. “We’ll go check out this plane, find these ruins and be back in two days. There’s nothing alive down there- just lots of snow.”

“I don’t know if telling me ‘there’s nothing alive down there’ is as comforting as you think it is,” Finn had said, narrowing his eyes but she widened her eyes innocently.

“You’re the one who wants to see more of the galaxy,” Poe had joined in, “It might even be fun.”

Finn had tried to stand his ground, but it was difficult when they were both giving him the same pleading expression. Then Poe had put his arm around Finn’s waist, his hand just resting on the edges of Finn’s hip and after that it was impossible to say no.

  
“Fine,” he had said. “Two days. We find this stupid Jedi thing and come back.”

Rey had nodded solemnly. “Absolutely. What could possibly go-”

“Don’t say it!” Finn warned but then Poe had laughed and leaned in to kiss him and after that Finn had forgotten to be mad about losing the argument.

* * *

For all his reservations about leaving the Resistance to look after itself for a bit, Finn can’t help but get excited when they’re alone together on the ship. It’s just the three of them, four if you counted BB-8, and it feels almost like old times. Finn is leaning on the back of Poe’s chair, half-listening to him bicker with Rey about the best way to handle the Falcon and they’re not even out of the Ajan Kloss atmosphere before Finn feels the weight lift from his shoulders.

He doesn’t miss the war, but he does miss this right here, the feeling of setting out on an adventure with his friends and not worrying about the fate of the Galaxy every time he signs a form. Finn doesn’t find the bureaucracy of being a General as frustrating as Poe, but he does get scared of it sometimes, the huge crushing wright of the responsibility. After a lifetime of being trained not to care about anything but following orders Finn suddenly has a whole Resistance to care about and there are just so many people who need things from him; rations or military aid or even just his advice about how to expand the cafeteria.

And though caring about people has always come kind of naturally to Finn, it’s hard to focus on so _many_ people when what he really wants to do is spend time with the people, he cares about _most_ of all.

Who, apart from Rose who couldn’t be dragged away from redesigning their new water filtration system, are all right here in this cockpit.

“It’s not going to be that cold,” Rey protests, rolling her eyes and Finn blinks and tries to remember what they’re arguing about now.

“It will be _freezing_ , you will freeze,” Poe tells her. “I’ve looked it up, this place is just one big snowball. I’m telling you you’ll need at least five layers on.”

“Five,” Rey scoffs. “I’ll be fine with a jacket.”

“I mean… you did grow up in a desert,” Finn points out, reluctant to get involved.

“What are you saying?” Rey says, turning to glare at him over her shoulder. “It was cold there too sometimes. At night. I can handle a little bit of snow.”

“Can you?” Finn asks, making a sceptical face and Poe grins smugly.

“ _Hah_ , Finn’s on my side this time. Which means you have to listen.”

“I don’t take sides,” Finn says diplomatically but when Poe twists round in his seat to grin at him, Finn can’t help but smile back, a little dopily.

“I know,” Poe says and reaches one hand up to tug gently at Finn’s shirt. “But you’re still on mine though.”

Finn wants to deny it but he can’t; so he lets Poe pull him down and kiss him. It’s soft, just a brush of lips but Rey makes a gagging sound anyway. Finn ignores her, making a rude hand gesture over Poe’s shoulder without making the kiss because they can _do this_ now, they aren’t on the base anymore where anyone’s going to be scandalised by the sight of their Generals making out , even if it’s a pretty open secret what they are to each other.

Rey lets them get on with it but finally says, “Poe if this ship crashes because you’re not watching the read outs…”

“You were just telling me how you could fly it perfectly well on your own,” Poe says, breaking away and then BB-8 rolls in and starts beeping at Finn about some rat’s nest that’s he’s discovered in the cargo hold.

In between dealing with that and trying to stop Rey and Poe accidentally crashing the ship while squabbling, the rest of the journey goes by pretty quickly.

* * *

The planet is beautiful, a glittering white ball in space and so serene and empty that Finn has no problem understanding why ancient Jedi had chosen to build their temples here all those millenia ago. It’s also cold. Really, really cold.

So cold that Rey takes two steps outside of the ship in her jacket and curses before heading back inside. A minute later she reappears in the bulkiest jacket Finn has ever seen, scowling.

“Comfy?” Finn asks her sweetly and she glowers at him, stamping her feet in the snow.

“No,” she says sourly. “Snow wasn’t this cold back on the Starkiller base.”

“It was,” Finn tells her. “You were just hopped up on adrenaline. And the Force.”

He doesn’t like to remember it much but he has strong memories of the cold, of feeling the icewater seeping through his jacket as the pain lit up a line of fire through his back. The snow falling through the leaves above him, almost peacefully.

He shakes away the memory and looks at Poe instead, buried under ten layers of fur and looking smug.

“I told you,” he says to Rey. “Did I not tell you?”

She just stomps off up a snow-covered hill in the direction of the temple, cheeks already red from the cold and bits of stray brown hair escaping from the hood.

“Remind me why I invited you two on this trip again?” she calls back over her shoulder and Poe and Finn grin at each other.

“Would this be a bad time to introduce her to the concept of snowballs?” Poe asks and Finn frowns.

“What’s a snowball?”

Poe looks delighted and then makes an obvious attempt to hide it.

“I keep forgetting you’re new to this stuff too,” he says. “Finn, buddy, you’re so lucky I’m a nice person.”

“Oh yeah?” Finn asks him, stepping a little closer. “I wouldn’t call you nice.”

Poe must notice the shift in his tone, the way Finn’s eyes flicker because he straightens up, breath catching.

“I’m nice,” he says, and it comes out a little too deep before he seems to catch himself, clearing his throat.

“Yeah?” Finn asks and watches him swallow, dark eyes getting just that little bit darker.

“Are you two going to do this all day?” Rey yells from the top of the hill. “We have ruins to find!”

“They’ve been here for a thousand years; they can wait five minutes!” Poe calls up to her and Finn takes advantage of his distraction to hit him in the face with a handful of snow.

It explodes on impact, chunks of snow sticking to Poe’s dark hair, catching on his stubble and he yelps, turning to Finn with a look of utmost betrayal.

“You said you didn’t know what a snowball was!” he accuses.

Finn grins at him triumphantly. “That was my first.”

He might not have thrown one before but in the years since leaving the First Order, Finn has done his research.

Poe narrows his eyes and sinks down to grab together a handful of snow and Finn braces himself, holding up his hands in their thermal gloves. But when the snowball hits, it comes courtesy of Rey, who seems to have postponed her temple in favour of joining in the fight.

* * *

With the brief but vicious battle that follows, it’s a while before they finally set out over the snow fields in search of the temple. Rey assures them that it’s not far, but Finn is already struggling a little in the snow, his feet catching in the drifts. The sky is clear and blue above them, but each breath feels like a mouthful of cold water, burning his lungs as it goes down.

“Why couldn’t your Jedi’s build their fancy house on a tropical planet?” Poe grouches beside him as they reach the top of yet another hill. “Maybe one with a beach?”

“They’re not my people,” Rey says. “But for once I actually agree with you- this is horrible.”

“We’re nearly there right?” Finn asks, shivering now and trying to hide it.

He’s not so much worried for himself but the others. Of all of them he’s best equipped for the cold, used to freezing dormitories and exposure training. But both Rey and Poe were born on hot planets and look pale and huddled, even in their jackets. The only one who seems happy is BB-8, skimming merrily over the top of the snowdrifts beside them.

“We should be,” Rey says but she doesn’t sound sure of it.

It’s at that moment that the ice monster shows up. Well, maybe ice monster is the wrong term. It probably has another name, one a little more scientific, but when it rears suddenly out from below the snow Finn doesn’t spend much time thinking about it. He’s more focused on not falling over backwards and important thoughts _agh_ , and _fuck that’s a lot of teeth_.

Even Ray seems to be taken off guard because Poe is the first to react, pulling them both backwards as the creature swipes out a massive white furred claw, letting out a deafening screech.

“Where the fuck did that come from?” Poe yells as they scramble away through the snow.

“Can you do your animal calming thing?” Finn asks Rey, who’s just a big pair of eyes wrapped in a fur hood at this point.

The creature lets out another screech and stretches to its full size, which is in Finn’s opinion, unnecessarily large and reveals row upon row on sharp white teeth. It looks almost Wookie-like with all the white fur but even Wookie’s don’t have claws that large. Or sharp.

Rey seems to be looking at the claws too, because she just shakes her head and says, “I think this is more of a running away situation.”

“Why are we still standing here then?” Poe snaps and then they’re off and racing back in the direction of the Falcon.

Or they would be racing if running in the snow didn’t turn out to be so incredibly _hard_. It catches at Finn’s feet, dragging at them and then suddenly, he’s falling and he can hear the creature behind him, can hear it catching up, practically feel the the warm breath on the back of his neck…

Then suddenly Poe is there at his side and pulling at his arm, saying, “Finn, get up, you have to get up!”

Finn reaches up to grab Poe’s hand and Poe pulls him to his feet, but it’s too late but then the monster screeches again, too close now and _hungry_.

Still holding Poe’s hand, Finn risks a glance over his shoulder and sees beady eyes and white fur-

And Rey, drawing her lightsabre with a sizzle of golden light.

She’s planted herself between them and the alien, shoulder’s squared and when she glances back over her shoulder to lock eyes with Finn, there’s a look of grim determination on her face.

“Go,” she grits out. “I’ve got this.”

“No-“Finn starts to say but then Poe is pulling him away, saying, “Finn, she’s _got this_.”

Every part of Finn wants to stay and help but Poe is right, Rey’s taken on much worse than this before and besides, Finn has seen just how deadly she can be with that lightsabre. Still, it hurts to tear himself away.

The snow has started to fall in thick white clumps as they run, BB-8 urging them on with anxious warbles but all Finn can focus on is the sounds of the battle behind him; the mechanical hum of the lightsabre, the horrible screeching of the alien. He can’t look back, so he focuses on Poe instead, on the feel of his gloved hand.

They’re following BB-8, his bright orange the only colour in all the white, until all at once, there’s a loud warning beep and he disappears.

“BB-8!” Poe calls out and before Finn can stop him, he’s running forward.

“Wait, Poe, no-“Finn starts to say and then the snow gives out under their feet.

Finn tries to grab for purchase, but the snow gives way under his hands and then they’re falling with a sickening lurch and before Finn can open his mouth to scream, something hits his head with a sharp crack, and everything goes dark.

* * *

For a moment when he wakes up he thinks he’s still in the bacta suit. He hasn’t opened his eyes yet but there’s a white light shining through them and everything feels very soft and far away. There’s a dull throbbing pain in the back of his head but even that is distant, hard to hold onto.

He wonders where Poe is, if he’s still waiting for Finn to wake up. He can hear voices over him and beeping; perhaps a med droid checking his vital readout. He tries to focus but he can only hear scraps and the words slip away before they make sense.

_-I move him? Is it safe? What if-_

_-can’t stay in the snow like this. Fuck, where’s Rey when you need her?-_

_-I’m not panicking BB-8, stop yelling at me-_

Things become a little clearer and Finn remembers the ice planet and with that memory comes the realisation that’s he cold. Really, _really_ cold.

He hears another burst of frantic beeping, and that’s no med-droid, that’s BB-8 and he sounds _frantic_.

“Fuck it, I need to move him, we can’t stay out here or we’ll die from exposure.” Finn hears Poe say and all at once, it’s clear and the words make sense again.

Finn wants to speak up or at least open his mouth but he can’t just yet, there’s something holding him back.

BB-8 whistles and Poe makes an annoyed kind of noise.

“What do you want me to do instead? What’s your bright idea?”

BB-8 seems to hesitate and then he lets out a long series of beeps.

“Han Solo did _what_ to a tauntaun on Hoth? That’s disgusting.”

BB-8 objects violently.

“I don’t care if it saved Luke Skywalker’s life. I don’t even _have_ a tauntaun.”

At this point Finn manages to open his eyes and immediately regrets it for the sharp stab of pain it brings. The first thing he sees is Poe’s face, peering anxiously down at him. He looks, and this is the best word Finn has for it, tortured but when he sees Finn’s eyes open the expression is immediately replaced with a look of pure relief.

“What happened to the tauntaun?” Finn asks weakly and Poe lets out a shaky laugh.

“Finn!” he says and then he’s leaning down to press a quick kiss to Finn’s lips, which is always a nice thing to wake up to but normally not this painful.

“Ow,” Finn says, and Poe pulls back anxiously.

“Oh fuck, sorry, sorry, I was just afraid for a moment that…” he says and then bites his lip, looking worried. “You were out for a good five minutes.”

BB-8 warbles in agreement and Finn tries to sit up to look for him. The movement makes it immediately clear that every muscle in his body appears to have been put through a grinder. Poe helps him and he must have been worried because he can’t seem to stop touching Finn, one arm around his back, the other brushing the snow off his jacket in nervous little movements.

Finn looks around and then up and immediately wonders why they aren’t both dead. They seem to be lying at the bottom of a deep icy ravine; the sky a thing white sliver high above them. Finn can see the disturbed snow where they must have fallen and it’s high up, so high that if it weren’t for the thick snow, they’d both surely be dead by now. BB-8 is beside them in the snow, rolling anxiously in place.

“Well, this isn’t good,” he decides, and he hears Poe let out a huff of laughter.

“Yeah, it could be better,” Poe says. “But as of two seconds ago things are looking a lot better. You’re awake at least.”

“Are you okay?” Finn asks, looking over at him, bringing one hand up to Poe’s cheek. The stubble is rough under his fingers and damp with snow. Poe leans into the touch.

“I’m okay,” he says and then hesitates. “Though there may be a small chance my ankle is broken.”

“What?” Finn yelps and then winces when his head moves too fast. “How is that okay?”

“I mean it might just be twisted. But I can’t walk.” 

“So, I have a head injury, you can’t walk, and we’re trapped down the bottom of a ravine.” Finn summaries and Poe nods his head.

“Yup.”

“So basically we’re in trouble.”

“Looks pretty bad, Yeah. But BB-8 is okay.”

BB-8 beeps sharply and Finn looks over at him.

“You couldn’t just look where you were going could you?” he accuses and BB-8 makes an apologetic sort of noise.

“There was a lot of snow,” Poe says defensively.

A thought suddenly occurs to Finn and he jerks violently, peering up at the crack of sky.

“Wait, Rey! Have you heard from her? Is she okay?”

“My com got busted in the fall,” Poe says, shaking his head. “And when I tried yours it was just static. I think the weather must be interfering. BB-8 says his radars show a storm on the way.”

“Oh perfect,” Finn says bitterly, tries to put his head in his hands and winces at the resulting pain. “Looks like I’m climbing.”

“Not with a head wound,” Poe says stubbornly. “Look, maybe if we follow the ravine for a while then we’ll find an exit.”

Finn doesn’t feel particularly optimistic about that plan, but it’s not like he has a better one so he struggles to his feet and reaches down to help Poe up.

Whatever’s happened to Poe’s ankle it’s bad, even though he’s clearly trying hard not to show it, stifling a groan into Finn’s shoulder. Finn tries to take as much of Poe’s weight as he can, but he feels sick and dizzy from the head wound; he can’t help but think they must make a pretty pathetic pair to look at right now.

“I can’t believe we beat Palpatine only to freeze to death in a snowy ditch,” Poe says gloomily, as if he’s reading Finn’s mind.

Finn rolls his eyes and wraps his arm a little tighter around Poe’s waist.

“Let’s try and keep a positive attitude,” he says. “At least we weren’t eaten by whatever that thing was up there.”

The moment he says it he thinks of Rey facing it alone and a guilty sickness starts to rise in his stomach. Poe must see it on his face because he reaches out for Finn’s hand, squeezing it quickly.

“Hey. Hey, she’s gonna be alright. Pissed off at us for falling in a hole but alright.”

“Yeah,” Finn says and nods to himself, “Let’s go find her before she gets bored and flies off without us.

They start to move and at the first step, Poe draws in a sharp breath, face visibly paling within the fur of his hood. BB-8 looks up at him and starts making a series of concerned noises but Poe just waves them both off.

“I’m good, I’m good,” he says. “Stop looking at me like that. Both of you.”

Finn bites down on his concern and tries not to look so obviously worried.

After a brief moments discussion they decide to go left which is a wider route but downhill. In terms of walking that’s easier but it also means descending further into the dark of the crevice which makes Finn feel uneasy. Far above them the sliver they can see of the sky is already darkening and Finn urges them on faster, not wanting to spend a night trapped down here in the cold.

The pace is gruelingly slow but still fast enough to be hell on Poe’s ankle. He’s not complaining, he never does, but it’s obviously getting to him, making him worryingly quiet. Finn keeps up a steady babble to fill the silence; eventually pestering Poe into continuing the ongoing task of teaching Finn basic droid. Usually Finn is the one avoiding these lessons but if it’ll keep Poe distracted from the pain, Finn is more than happy to play the student.

They make it for about half an hour this way but there’s still no sign of the path ascending, or even an end to the ravine. Finn is starting to worry it’s going to go on forever, winding deeper and deeper into the ground when they nearly stumble on what looks like a set of stairs, carved into the stone.

“Huh,” Poe says when he sees them. “That’s weirdly convenient for a ravine.”

“It would be,” Finn grouses. “If they went _up_.”

The icy steps descend into the gloom below them; twisting around a natural corner in the rock. As they pause at the to, a chill wind whistles up them, ruffling their coats around them. There’s something eerie about it, something that makes Finn shiver, and not just from the cold.

“Do you think these are the ruins that Rey was looking for?” Poe wonders aloud and Finn nods grimly.

“Yeah,” he says, and he doesn’t know why, but somehow, he knows it for a fact.

“Maybe this is our exit,” Poe says and Finn nods but can’t help but feel uneasy.

He doesn’t know why but every muscle in his body is telling him not to go down these stairs. But then BB-8 whistles and while Finn might still be a newcomer to speaking Droid, he can tell a warning when he hears one.

“The storm,” he says and even as he says it, the first snowflakes begin to drift down around them. When Finn tilts back his head to look at the dark clouds far above, a snowflake settles on his nose, a tiny point of cold, dissolving into nothing.

The descent is nothing short of terrifying. The steps are slippery with ice and treacherously steep; BB-8 rattles down them alarmingly fast, more of a controlled fall than anything. Finn and Poe take much longer, Poe turning whiter with every step.

After what seems like an endless amount of time, they reach a stone doorway, carved directly into the rock. There’s nothing on the other side but darkness; so black it looks almost like a ship window looking out onto the void.

BB-8 rolls right in without hesitating, shining a light into the darkness but Finn hesitates. He can hear something in the back of his mind, almost like a memory, nudging at his brain. A small sound in the dark, like someone was lost in there. Calling out.

Even as he thinks it, Finn brushes the thought away.

_Head injury,_ he reminds himself and he and Poe step forward into the dark.

It’s not any warmer in here, if anything the chill is more bone-deep but at least they’re out of the wind and snow. Below their feet are tiles and the only light comes from the small weaving shape of BB-8 ahead of them.

“Hey buddy, could you stay still and show us where we are?” Poe calls out and when BB-8 does, Finn kind of wishes he hadn’t.

They’re standing in the hallway of…somewhere. It’s more of a cavern than a manmade building; a huge monolithic space that stretches away in every direction. Directly ahead of them is a statue so large that, even craning back his head, Finn can’t see the face of it, only a distant looming shape in the dark.

  
“Those ancient Jedi obviously liked to keep things cosy,” Poe says dryly, and Finn gives him a look.

“I’m going to honest; I hate this a lot.”

“You and me both pal,” Poe says. “I’m never going to complain about living in a jungle tent again.”

“Maybe there’s a big roaring fireplace in the next room,” Finn says but Poe is shaking his head.

“I think I need to sit down. Or throw up. Either of those is looking pretty good right now.”

Even without leaving the entranceway, it takes a disturbingly long time just to walk over to a corner to hunker down in. By the time they reach it, Poe is practically shaking at his side.

“Okay just stay there,” Finn says as he lowers him down against the wall. “I’ll find some wood or something. We can make a fire.”

“Wood?” Poe says, sounding alarmed. “In a Jedi temple? Do you really think we should be splitting up right now? What if you fall off a walkway or get lost or activate some ancient trap?”

“You think there are traps?” Finn says doubtfully but lets Poe pull him down next to him.

“We’ll just rest for a minute,” Poe says, “And then I’ll go with you.”

“We need a fire,” Finn says gently. “Or we’ll freeze.”

BB-8 makes a warbling noise and then flicks out his lighter. Poe and Finn look at it, and then at each other.

“Oh, thank you buddy,” Poe says, getting it a moment before Finn. “But we need something a little warmer than that.”

BB-8 beeps and Poe shakes his head.

“Not on your own,” he says. “What if you get lost?”

“What’s he saying?” Finn whispers, only vaguely understanding the droid for _locate_.

“He wants to go looking for Rey,” Poe says grimly. “Bring her to us.”

Finn hesitates. “That’s not… the _worst_ plan in the world.”

Poe whips his head around to give Finn a wide-eyed look. “Alone? It’s dangerous out there!”

“You saw him on the snow earlier,” Finn says. “He’s faster than any of us. And besides, it’s BB-8. If anyone can find Rey, it’s this droid.”

BB-8 swivels to look at Finn and lets off a proud chirp.

Poe’s mouth twists in a worried line but then he relents. “Fine. But be careful okay. Don’t talk to any strange ice monsters.”

“Or Jedi ghosts,” Finn mutters under his breath and Poe gives him a warning glance.

“Don’t scare him,” he hisses before turning back to BB-8. “Are you sure about this buddy?”

BB-8 flicks out the lighter again and Poe nods, giving him a lingering pat on the head.

As they watch BB-8 roll off into the dark, it suddenly occurs to Finn that their light source is going with him. He reaches for Poe’s hand and squeezes it, very glad not to be alone.

“Scared of the dark?” Poe asks him and Finn forces a weak smile, even though Poe can’t see it.

“It’s just…this place,” Finn admits. “There’s something off about it.”

Poe hums in agreement. “I wonder what they used it for.”

For a moment Finn imagines he hears it again; the sound of something far away, crying.

“Probably something ancient to do with the fate of the Galaxy,” he says, loudly to drown out the sensation.

“We couldn’t have visited the ancient jedi hot springs,” Poe says darkly. “I would kill for a bath right now.”

“I wish we were back in your bunk,” Finn says quietly.

Poe shifts a little closer and Finn lets himself lean into him, resting his head on Poe’s shoulder. Even under these circumstances, it’s nice to have a moment like this, just the two of them. Finn loves his life back in the base, even loves being General most of the time, but it’s busy work. The moments he gets like this with Poe, outside of the command tent, alone where they can just be together, are rare and all the more precious for it.

“We should be naked right? For the body heat?” Poe says and Finn laughs out loud, not even annoyed at him for ruining the moment.

“You want to take our clothes _off_ to get warmer?”

  
Poe is silent for a moment. “…It’s possible that was a line someone used on me once.”

“Did it work?”

“Maybe. I’ve fallen for a lot of bad lines,” Poe admits and Finn buries his laugh in the warm skin of Poe’s neck.

“I never used a line. Should I have used a line?”

“You didn’t need one,” Poe says softly. “You just needed to be you.”

Finn doesn’t really know what to say to that, so he just leans into Poe to kiss him. When he pulls back he says, “How’s your ankle?”

“Sore,” Poe admits and then his tone gets more sultry. “You want to kiss it better?”

“That’s a terrible come-on,” Finn says, even though it’s kind of working for him. “I can’t believe you’re thinking of sex at a time like this.”

“With you I’m always thinking about it.”

Finn opens his mouth to retort and then he hears it again, louder this time. The sound of crying. A child’s voice.

“Poe,” he says in a whisper. “I think I already know the answer, but did you hear that too?”

Poe goes very still beside him. “Hear what?”

“Yeah,” Finn says. “That’s what I thought. I think my head injury might have been worse than I thought.”

“What do you hear?”

“Children,” Finn says. “I hear children.”

“Well that’s not good,” Poe says, picking his words carefully. “Do you think…do you think it’s a force thing?”

“Oh,” Finn says, and feels stupid because the thought literally hadn’t occurred to him till that moment. “I thought it might be a brain-injury thing.”

“Maybe,” Poe says softly and Finn feels warm fingers brush gently at his forehead. “Or maybe you’re picking up on whatever this place used to be. This must have been an important place once, for the jedi.”  
  


“So I’m just hearing echoes?” Finn wonders aloud and now he’s listening for it, the crying is louder, not just one voice, but many, calling out to him in the dark.

“What do they sound like?” Poe asks. “What do you feel?”

Finn feels something twist in his chest and he swallows, hard. “I don’t know. Sadness, I guess. Loneliness. They were scared.”

He feels lost with it suddenly, the pull of all that ancient pain, engraved onto the walls of this place. There’s a sense of strong recognition, almost like it’s his own memories that linger here and, in a way, they are. Finn hadn’t been raised in an ancient stone temple, but his childhood had been spent in places as cold and vast as this; endless rows of beds and tables and weapons laid out for practice.

He feels Poe’s hand, large and steady on his cheek and then Poe is saying, almost urgently, “Hey, listen okay. That’s not real. Maybe it was once, but it’s gone now. The only thing here is you and me alright. Focus on that.”

Finn takes a shaky breath and reaches for him through the dark. They kiss and Poe is warm, so warm even in the middle of this freezing dead place. Somehow when he kisses Poe like this it still feels like the first time, when they had met after the battle, when everything was over. It had been about wanting each other so long but more than that; it had been about saying I’m alive and you’re alive and we have the rest of our lives after this.

And even now, when Poe pulls him closer it still feels like they’re saying that.

It’s awkward and very clumsy and they’re still in heavy coats but Finn can’t help but squirm as close as he can. He’s half in Poe’s lap when Poe yelps and Finn pulls back, panting.  
  
  
“Oh fuck, sorry,” he says. “Your ankle.”

“It’s good, it’s fine,” Poe says quickly. “We don’t need to stop. “  
  


“Are you su-“ Finn says but Poe is already pulling him down by the front of his jacket.

Creepy ghost children and freezing dark ruins aside, Finn has just about warmed to Poe’s original suggestions for generating heat when behind them, someone pointedly clear their throat.

“Should I go away and come back?” Rey’s asks drily and Finn almost yelps in surprise, squinting over his shoulder.

“Rey!” he says, “You’re okay! We were so worried!”

“Hmm, obviously,” Rey says, and Finn can’t see her face but he’s pretty sure she’s rolling her eyes.

“How did you find us?” Poe asks, sounding a lot more relaxed about the ‘being caught making out’ thing than Finn, which was pretty normal by now.

“BB-8 found me,” Rey says and calls out behind her into the dark, “Hey! They’re over here!”

BB-8 rolls around a corner, swishing his light around and as the droid rolls closer, Finn takes the opportunity to move off Poe and try and try and school his face into something less guilty.

“You know if the two of you wanted some time alone you didn’t have to fall off a cliff to do it, ” Rey says and in the dim light provided by BB-8 she looks more amused than anything and more importantly, unharmed.

  
“It was a ravine,” Poe points out and Rey laughs, rummaging around in her pack until she pulls out what looks like a fusion lantern.

“Is that what I think it is?” Poe says eagerly when he sees it, “Oh Rey, you’re an angel. I could kiss you.”

“I think there’s been enough of that already,” Rey says, turning it on and setting it between them. “Nice to see you weren’t too worried about the idea of me getting eaten by some ice beast.”

“We were!” Finn protests at the same time that Poe says, “Would you believe me if we said we were consoling each other?”

Rey laughs and sits down next to Finn with her back to the wall, taking his hand when he offers it. The fusion lamps begins to warm up, casting a golden bubble of light around them and BB-8 chirrups happily.

“So, what do we do now?” Poe asks, “Do we try and make it back to the ship?”

“The storm is pretty bad out there,” Rey says doubtfully. “I think we should just bunker down here for the night. Hey, give me your ankle. How bad is it?”

“It’s fine,” Poe says, obviously lying. “Finn’s head is worse.”

“It’s not,” Finn protests but Rey is already frowning at him, reaching up with her cool fingers to place them on his forehead.

He can feel the ebb of the Force, spreading through the area, leeching away the pain and when Rey pulls her hand back, Finn actually sighs in relief. His thoughts feel clearer now; sharpened and while it’s a relief, he’s suddenly more aware than ever of the ruins, the awful empty silence of them.

As Rey fixes Poe’s ankle, ignoring the way Poe fusses every time she moves it, Finn says quietly, “This place is pretty horrible isn’t it?”

“Do you feel it too?” Rey asks, looking at him with large serious eyes.

“What was it used for?” Poe asks and then yelps when Rey let’s go of his foot. “Hey! Careful!”

“Oh, stop whining, you’re all fixed,” Rey tells him and then her tone turns sombre and thoughtful. “The records weren’t clear. But I think it was for training the Force sensitive. Before they became padawans.”

“How young?” Finn asks, even though he already knows the answer.

“Very young,” Rey says quietly. “Luke said those who showed talent could be taken from their parents almost immediately after birth.”

There’s a horrible silence in response to that. Finn stares at the bright light of the fusion lamp and when he blinks, the after impression burns behind his eyelids.

“That’s horrible,” Poe says abruptly. “I’m sorry, I know you believe in the Jedi but that just sounds evil to me.”

Finn glances at Rey, expecting the start of another fight but she just shrugs, looking tired.

“I suppose it was a long time ago,” she says quietly. “They must have thought the younger the better. For training.”

“That sounds familiar,” Finn says quietly and then he feels Poe’s hand wrap around his, holding it tight.

“I know it sounds awful,” Rey says softly. “But I used to wish so badly that could be me. When I heard the stories as a child. The idea of being trained, with all those other children and having a purpose, some sort of meaning-“

She breaks off and looks over at Finn, wincing. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s ok,” Finn tells her. “I understand. You were lonely. I was too.”

She looks at him and then lets out a small sigh, putting her head down on his shoulder. The three of them watch the lantern cast shapes on the wall. Finn is beginning to feel warm for the first time since landing on this rock and with that comes the exhaustion, sweeping up like a wave.

He thinks about the children who once walked in this hallway and feels a strange, almost unbearable sadness for them, and sadness for himself too, a sadness he doesn’t let himself think about much. Sometimes Finn lets himself wonder what his life would be like if he had never been taken away. If he had been allowed to grow up on some planet somewhere; have a childhood, parents. But then he might never have saved the Galaxy, become General of a rebellion. He would never have met Rey or fallen in love with Poe. There was no point in mourning a life he had never had; especially when he had more than he had ever wished for now. Or even thought possible.

His eyelids droop and after a while, Rey begins to snore softly into his shoulder. Careful not to wake her, Finn looks over at Poe and sees him looking back, smiling softly. His eyes look very dark in this light.

“You sleep,” Poe tells him. “We’ll set off in the morning. I’ll keep watch for a while.”

“If you’re sure,” Finn says and then he hesitates. “You know Poe I-“

“I love you too,” Poe says easily, and Finn still feels a warm rush at the words, even if that’s not what he meant.

“I was going to say, I’m glad I met you,” he says quietly, almost whispering. “I don’t believe it sometimes. How lucky I got.”

Poe looks at him in the way he does sometimes, so open and trusting it almost hurts to look at and then he shakes his head.

“No,” he says. “That wasn’t luck. And it wasn’t the Force either.”

“What was it then?” Finn asks, “Destiny?”

“No Finn,” Poe says simply. “It was you. It was all you.”

Finn thinks about it and then he leans over to kiss Poe, very softly, and when he pulls away, he’s smiling to himself. 

“Yeah,” he says. “I guess it was.”

**Author's Note:**

> You could see this as a follow on to Diplomacy (my longer Finnpoe fic) but in my head this takes place in a timeline where Poe and Finn got together immediately after winning the final battle. If you like this let me know!! xx


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